I am truly blessed
And I am so
grateful.
"Furnished
In Abundance" was the message I had planned to share on today's blog post.
But that would have to wait. I have many reasons this week to give thanks to God
for blessing my life with my husband, my sons and many great friends/brethren.
I felt anew
the deep and sincere love of brothers and sisters in Christ whom God raised up to
be a help and a blessing to me when I desperately needed help.
It has been
a rather busy and exhausting week. For reasons unknown to me, I had three check-up appointments at the hospital (different departments) scheduled for this week in addition
to the twice a week appointments at the physiotherapist's cabinet. And my husband
is on duty travel this week.
For each of
these appointments, I needed someone to take me there and another person to
bring me back home. The trip to the hospital is about 45 minutes with an
n-minute waiting period and another n-minute consultation time, where n can be
up to 60 minutes especially the waiting period. It was difficult to ask anyone
person to leave their workplace or other tasks for this length of time.
So when we
asked our friends to help out, we gave them the option of either to drop me off
or pick me up from the hospital. For the physiotherapy session which is a 5-minute
drive from home and lasts for 45 minutes, the same person had to do both the
drop off and pick up. It was a sacrifice of time and effort. Yet they willingly
offered help until I had more than enough people to cover the 6-day schedule!
It is amazing
and overwhelming to be a recipient of such brotherly (sisterly) love. I am
truly blessed and so grateful to God for the six friends who undertook this
assignment and the 2 sweet ladies taking care of me who went with me to these
appointments.
It was
during one of the trips to the hospital that I finally had the opportunity to
go and say "thank you" to the team of nurses and aide-soignants who
took care of me while I was in the ICU and on the ward.
Getting to
the ICU was like walking through a maze, we kept turning left and right, up and
down, I never knew it was such a long distance visitors have to cover since
there is a different route for patients. As I went on what seemed like an
endless journey through the maze, I kept saying to my companion; "Is this
the distance my husband, my sons and many friends had to walk each time they
came to see me in the ICU?" Sometimes they had to do this several times in
one day, sometimes they only get to see me briefly and sometimes they were not
even allowed to see me at all depending on the situation at that time.
I was
overwhelmed at the sacrifice they willingly made, it could only have been
motivated by deep and sincere love from a pure heart. And even more so when I thought
about those who made the 60km trip to Lausanne
When I finally
got to the waiting room where these men and women spent many hours on end, the
receptionist did not recognize (she never met me throughout my stay there) but
when I mentioned my name, her face lit up and she asked after my husband and my
sons. She remembered them so well and rejoiced that I am now fit and strong
enough to come back.
I left the
place with a renewed sense of appreciation for my husband and sons, and the
great friends God surrounded us with during that trying period of our lives.
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I have been
shown sincere love and as we are charged in 1Peter 1:22, these brethren have
displayed deep love from their heart. We are encouraged to be kind and
compassionate to one another and to love as brothers and sisters (1Pet. 3:8,
Eph. 4:32). I am a recipient of compassion and of brotherly love from many
friends, and for this I am truly blessed and grateful.
The charge
to us is to "…become useful, helpful and kind, tender-hearted (compassionate,
understanding, loving-hearted…" to one another.
By this,
shall all men know that we are Jesus disciples if we love one another (John
13:35).
For each
one of you who stood in the gap for me and entreated the Lord on my behalf, and
for each one of you who sacrificially positioned yourselves as helpers to us at
our time of need and are still doing so, I ask the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ to richly bless you beyond measures. Our God Who owes no man shall
surely reward your labour of love beyond your wildest imagination.
Friends, let
brotherly love continue. Great things happen when brothers and sisters dwell
together in unity and in love. Let us be shining examples of Christian love as
the opportunity is presented to us.
Have you
been a recipient of such brotherly love as described here? If yes, share your
story and let us continue to encourage and prompt one another to brotherly
love.
Pleased to share with you Daniel Winans' "Let Brotherly Love Continue" (1989)
My dear sister, I wish to join you to say a big thank you to all these friends, the Lord God will bless them for the time and they will not lack help in their time of need, in Jesus name, Amen.
ReplyDeleteYou have asked us to share if we have been recipients of brotherly kindness, I have, 3 came up to mind instantly and your family was involved in two of them.
1. Almost 20 years ago our first son was ill with fever of unknown origin,the health care workers were on strike , it was your husband and Dr Ola that were coming in to the house to monitor him. And the day i perceived in my Spirit that we should anoint him with oil it was your husband who had anointing oil in his car brought it out joined us to pray for him and miraculously that was the end of that fever. The Lord also promised that He will not forget our labour of love(Heb 6:10), He did not forget and you received HIS help at an appointed time surely these brethren will be marked for reward.
The other one was my visit to Geneva for a conference! when you insisted "how can we be in Geneva and you will go and stay in an hotel?" When I got to your home I felt if you did not ask me to come, you had genuine reasons. The daily drop off and pick up from the conference center was sure not the most convenient, it was brotherly love in action. As if that was not sufficient you made sure you took me out to see Geneva and ensure that i did quality shopping even though it was one of the "troublesome coughing" day I could not persuade you that we cancel the outing. Sister, God is faithful. I can remember more that involve your family but let me stop at these two.
The third one I remember was when we were packing from Whiston to Nuneaton in England. Brethen from the church Elim Pentecostal came and offered to help us pack. They detailed people to pack the kitchen, living room, guest room and visitors room, we were left to pack our room. they did a good job labeling every pack such that it was so easy to reach what I wanted after. It was overwhelming. Indeed I know the Lord God will reward that labour of love. Sis Abimbola O.